Apple fined £9m for 'misleading' claims over iPhone water damage

Michael Cogley
2 min read
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Apple's range of recent iPhones have been indicted in the Italian case - Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
Apple's range of recent iPhones have been indicted in the Italian case - Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

Apple has been fined €10m (£8.83m) in Italy for allegedly making misleading statements about the water resistant properties of various iPhone models.

Regulators in Italy took issue with the ads used to promote a range of the company’s most-recent handsets as well as the lack of a warranty offered to those that suffered liquid damage to their phones.

The ads claimed that the phones were water resistant up to a maximum depth of between 4 meters and 1 meter for up to 30 minutes.

The Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM), Italy’s antitrust watchdog, said that the promotions did not state that the phones were only waterproof in specific conditions.

The authority flagged that Apple had used laboratory tests with static and pure water, which are unlike the normal conditions the devices are used in by consumers.

Apple’s iPhone 8, 8 Plus, XR, XS, XS Max, iPhone 11, and iPhone 11 pro and max, were all included in the Italian regulator’s fine.

The AGCM also hit out at Apple’s guarantee on the handsets, which stated that it did not cover damage caused by liquids. The regulator said the lack of guarantee was enough to “deceive consumers” in light of the “emphatic advertising boast of water resistance”.

In addition to the fine, the AGCM said it was appropriate for Apple to offer warranty assistance to customers affected by liquid damage.

Apple had yet to respond to a request for comment at the time of writing.

Earlier in the month Apple agreed to pay $113m (£85m) to settle allegations that it slowed down older iPhones to encourage people to buy new ones as part of the long-running dispute dubbed “batterygate”.

Consumers said their iPhones’ were only affected after they installed Apple software updates and that the sudden slowdown made them believe their handsets needed to be replaced or new batteries.

That payment followed a separate settlement agreed in March, in which Apple agreed to pay up to $500 million to users who had been affected.

Last year, Apple entered a binding agreement with the UK's consumer watchdog, agreeing to warn users if the company planned to reduce the speed of older iPhones.​

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